Here's the thing. For most seminar presentations at conference, you have an hour. You are not going to be able to change our lives in an hour. You are not going to be able to give us 10 things we are going to be able to absorb and implement in an hour. You are not going to be able to change our entire way of thinking about something in an hour.
We are humans; we need to respond, consider, ponder, digest and react to what you're saying. Listening and learning is a process; it's not just writing down what you say. You need to take us along for the ride.
Mistake #1 most inexperienced presenters make: their ideas are too broad. You've probably been to talks like this. Motivational speakers do this (I used to be one; I should know!) This type of speaker talks in broad generalities--life, truth, simplicity, here's how cool new media is. Everything is boiled down to axioms, simple ideas and broad statements with no underlying explanations. Let me stress that there is nothing wrong with this type of talk--it has a place in getting us out of our comfort zones and motivating us or getting us thinking (just as it's supposed to do). But it is NOT generally useful in an educational setting. Speaking exclusively in generalities and broad ideas without giving specific examples, case studies and anecdotes to demonstrate your theses is useless for the audience and is guaranteed to produce this post-seminar conversation:
"How was the talk?"
"Great! He really knew his stuff."
"What did you learn?"
"Um... I don't know, but he was a really good speaker."
Personally, I set a goal for each workshop or presentation I give. And usually, it's something to the effect of:
I want for every person in the room to walk away with ONE THING that he/she can go home and implement today.
So as you go through your next seminar or talk, look at those broad ideas that you're discussing and check for holes. As you discuss the conversational nature of Web 2.0, did you give an example? Did you cite the number of blogs Technorati is tracking today, maybe the Edelman Trust Barometer to show how people distrust mainstream media and find more value in blogs written by people like them? Did you talk about the Kryptonite lock fiasco and what that shows about what type of communication people expect from companies?
And, more importantly, did you give your audience a reason to care? Did you show the significance of that broad idea and what it means for them? Did you give them an example, a case study, an anecdote that they could take back to their bosses to demonstrate the value of that point? Did you give them a call to action and show them a few things they could do, right now, today, to adapt to that broad idea you keep talking about?
End your talk with a call to action.
Give them broad ideas backed up by facts, stories, examples and case studies. Give them something they can use. Check your talk--if YOU listened to it, can YOU pick out one thing that you would take home to change tonight? If YOU listened, would YOU have a clear action to take? This is a great way to guarantee this conversation:
"How was the talk?"
"Great! She really knew her stuff."
"What did you learn?"
"She said this one thing about compiling a list of 10 questions, having a friend do the same, and then merging the two lists into one that I think I'm going to try."
Go forth and present. (With specific examples.)